Living only on social security

I guess if it's that dire it's too late.
I was always taught to pay myself first, even the if it was a couple of dollars, something went into savings.
What about the times when the economy was better? Was anything put away for emergency?
I don't claim to know any individual's circumstance and I am empathic if someone has been prudent their whole life and now finds themself that situation. I know people of whom I'm speaking and it's heartbreaking.
I know others who never believed the rainy day would come.
 

officerripley said:
My huzz's Social Security payment is only $200/month. Yes, he worked full-time from his 18th birthday, and around his 30th birthday, after hard work studying nights, got a certificate that put him in a good paying position at the same place of employment, even though it was blue collar.

So why is his Soc. Sec. so low? Because the bosses--may they rot--at that place put out a notice to all the employees saying, "Hey you know what? It's silly for us to withdraw for Social Security from your checks. So why don't we stop doing that and you'll have a bigger paycheck. So go into the Personnel Office and vote for us to stop withdrawing Social Security from your checks and this'll be better because you can invest that extra and if you invest wisely, have more money when you retire than you'd get from Soc. Sec." (Yeah, right, like a bunch of 20 year olds are gonna invest wisely; gimme a break.)

So Huzz and the other union representatives ran around to all the employees and convinced them to vote "no." They told the guys, "Oh yeah, it sounds great now to have extra money, but you probably won't invest wisely, you'll just spend it and when you're old and retired wish you had that Social Security check coming in." And it worked; enough workers voted "no."

So the bosses were angry and waited a while and tried sending out another letter and Huzz and the other union guys ran all over again and got all the workers to vote "no" again.

Welp, the bosses--may they rot forever--decided they knew how to fix this: they put in with the next paychecks that came out a teeny, tiny, little slip of paper saying the same thing, except that unless the workers went in person to the Personnel Office and voted "No" there, they would be considered to have voted "yes" to doing away with the Soc. Sec. withdrawal.

Unfortunately, Huzz and the other Union guys only found out about it 'till about 2 hours before the Personnel Office closed and weren't able to get ahold of enough of the workers to go in and vote "no" in time. So they stopped taking Soc. Sec. out of Huzz's and all the other workers checks from then on; Huzz had had enough quarters of it being withdrawn from his checks so he could get the minimum amount but anyone hired at that place after, and if it's the only place they ever worked, will not be getting Social Security.

So the TLDR summary of this? Never trust a boss; watch 'em every minute and UNIONS YES!
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Something in your story is incomplete? Please explain. There are few exemptions for employers paying into USA SS that is otherwise mandatory. One exemption is if a public government organization that could be under a union contract has a comparable pension plan. Am wondering if you simply don't understand the SSA system and misinterpreted via second hand communication what happened? What does occur is smaller companies sometimes pay some workers off their books under the table. Numbers of construction workers stupidly played that game only to end up without SS as seniors.

Who Is Exempt From Paying Social Security Taxes?
 
I also want to say this is a thread on living only on S.S. To those of you in that situation and are struggling I am not callous. I know at one time we weren't wrong to think that was a viable option.
But times, unfortunately, have changed for many people.
 
Teacher Terry said:
... Rents have gotten so high where I live that we have homeless people with full time jobs.
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Very common here in California in core cities because those areas with highest residence costs like here in the SFBA also tend to have a lack of lower paying employment workers since they have difficulty finding a commutable place to live. Others, especially illegal immigrant poor, may live in residences with excessive numbers of people. They move to locations with available low paying jobs versus areas with lower residence costs but few jobs.
 
David777 said:
Something in your story is incomplete? Please explain. There are few exemptions for employers paying into USA SS that is otherwise mandatory. One exemption is if a public government organization that could be under a union contract has a comparable pension plan. Am wondering if you simply don't understand the SSA system and misinterpreted via second hand communication what happened? What does occur is smaller companies sometimes pay some workers off their books under the table. Numbers of construction workers stupidly played that game only to end up without SS as seniors.

Who Is Exempt From Paying Social Security Taxes?
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I was thinking the same thing, David. SS is rarely optional and only when another employer-funded retirement plan is in place.

Senior Americans who work most of their working lives being fully or mostly paid under the table virtually always come to regret it because of paltry SS benefits.
 
High school classes about Social Security would mostly fall on deaf ears. Rare indeed is the 17 year old who will fully process and act on what might happen to them fifty years hence. The role of schools is to provide a basic education, teach critical thinking, and make sure students know how to find credible sources and thoroughly research a topic.

That was the point of research papers (starting in elementary school and going all the way through college) that required library researched topics, with sources cited and credited. Know-it-all brother-in-law "expert" opinions would have landed an epic fail and embarrassing dressing down by the teacher in front of the class.

Somehow though, a lot of grown up students forgot those lessons and instead opt to follow advice from non-expert family member advice and wacky youtube videos over solid research.
 
Opting out of Social Security coverage is legal and done by some state governments and many municipalities. I was employed by a state university and they opted out and put the funds in a 457 account. When I moved in to another institution I used that account to rollover and purchase all the service credit for those years into the new state system I was now under.

But then there is the Windfall Elimination provision. One needs 30 years of ā€œsubstantial earningsā€ ($31,275 in 2024) covered under SS to not have your SS ā€œdiscountedā€. In the very last quarter before I retired, I achieved the 30 years. Whew, that was close!

A bill to end the WEP is now before congress. Hope it makes it. Will help ALOT of folks who really need it.
 
EmptyCup said:
Opting out of Social Security coverage is legal and done by some state governments and many municipalities. I was employed by a state university and they opted out and put the funds in a 457 account. When I moved in to another institution I used that account to rollover and purchase all the service credit for those years into the new state system I was now under.

But then there is the Windfall Elimination provision. One needs 30 years of ā€œsubstantial earningsā€ ($31,275 in 2024) covered under SS to not have your SS ā€œdiscountedā€. In the very last quarter before I retired, I achieved the 30 years. Whew, that was close!

A bill to end the WEP is now before congress. Hope it makes it. Will help ALOT of folks who really need it.
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Since I only had 15 years into a job not paying into the system I lose 60% of my SS. It hurts because I had years out of the job market raising kids and obtaining 3 college degrees. Iā€™m hoping it passes also.
 
There is a very large Victorian house just an hour away from me here in CNY

https://www.skaneateles.com/​

in Skaneateles that rents rooms to seniors only. The rooms are beautifully decorated. There is a private bath for each room. Kitchen rights with your own space inside 2 refriderators, use of the stove/oven.



There is a cook who prepares the noon meal which is like an evening meal. She cooks very well and the menu is varied and checked for food allergies with each resident. Evening meal and breakfast are yours to fix. There is a large living room with lots of seating options, a large tv and there is a seperate room for quiet times w/o tv.

I interviewed to move there 2 years ago but she only had a second story. She told me the people were all very nice and got along well.

I would love to find several like minded people for some kind of group living w/o the others being in your space all the time. Do any of you think this kind of living arrangement is a good thing?
 
Yes @dusty ā€¦I do think the living situation you describe would be great. I am always surprised by how many folks in tight circumstances say they would ā€œnever have a roommateā€. I had a roommate when I was in my early 40ā€™s and he was GREATā€¦as a person and for our mutual finances.
 
dusty said:
There is a very large Victorian house just an hour away from me here in CNY

Skaneateles​

in Skaneateles that rents rooms to seniors only. The rooms are beautifully decorated. There is a private bath for each room. Kitchen rights with your own space inside 2 refriderators, use of the stove/oven.



There is a cook who prepares the noon meal which is like an evening meal. She cooks very well and the menu is varied and checked for food allergies with each resident. Evening meal and breakfast are yours to fix. There is a large living room with lots of seating options, a large tv and there is a seperate room for quiet times w/o tv.

I interviewed to move there 2 years ago but she only had a second story. She told me the people were all very nice and got along well.

I would love to find several like minded people for some kind of group living w/o the others being in your space all the time. Do any of you think this kind of living arrangement is a good thing?
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It sounds wonderful to me too, as long as I had my own room and it would be okay with everyone else if I wanted to chill alone in my room.
 
dusty said:
There is a very large Victorian house just an hour away from me here in CNY

Skaneateles​

in Skaneateles that rents rooms to seniors only. The rooms are beautifully decorated. There is a private bath for each room. Kitchen rights with your own space inside 2 refriderators, use of the stove/oven.



There is a cook who prepares the noon meal which is like an evening meal. She cooks very well and the menu is varied and checked for food allergies with each resident. Evening meal and breakfast are yours to fix. There is a large living room with lots of seating options, a large tv and there is a seperate room for quiet times w/o tv.

I interviewed to move there 2 years ago but she only had a second story. She told me the people were all very nice and got along well.

I would love to find several like minded people for some kind of group living w/o the others being in your space all the time. Do any of you think this kind of living arrangement is a good thing?
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I think that itā€™s a great concept but the devil always seems to appear in the details.

There was a similar house in Liverpool, NY and a rehabilitated elementary school in Montezuma NY.

In the book Your Money or Your Life the authors lived in a similar co-housing arrangement.

The author has moved on and now owns a home that she remodeled into small rental units.

In-Home Suitesā€”a community solution for affordable rentals

Home - In-Home Suites
 
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dilettante said:
There is a lot of honest, accurate, helpful information in YouTube videos. I agree there is a lot of wishful opinion, deception, and nonsense as well but at least you can follow up by consulting the actual source documents to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Not everyone is gullible enough to swallow disingenuous claims like "import tariffs are a national sales tax" by the mind binding politicians pushing globalism.
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The first paragraph of your comment is true. Unfortunately many don't bother to separate the wheat from the chaff, or even recognize there's a difference.

As for the second paragraph, please stop baiting us into political discussions. Matrix was gracious enough yesterday to simply close the conversation that went political rather than removing posts, or suspending/banning any of us. I take his warning seriously.

We all know where you stand with the upcoming election. Battering people with your opinions only hardens the stance of those who see things from a different perspective.

I think you often have valuable things to say and enjoy many of your posts, D, but will put you on ignore if you don't knock it off.
 
Teacher Terry said:
Since I only had 15 years into a job not paying into the system I lose 60% of my SS. It hurts because I had years out of the job market raising kids and obtaining 3 college degrees. Iā€™m hoping it passes also.
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WEP was passed originally because the "double-dipping" of SS and public pensions was out of control. If WEP is overturned without some reasonable restrictions placed on it, there will be some serious public snapback when news stories again begin featuring public employees with pension and SS benefits combining to stratospheric levels.

According to SS https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf:

"Before 1983, people whose primary job wasnā€™t covered by Social Security had their Social Security benefits calculated as if they were long-term, low-wage workers.They had the advantage of receiving a Social Security benefit that represented a higher percentage of their earnings. They also had a pension from a job for which they didnā€™t pay Social Security taxes. Congress passed the WEP to remove that advantage."

"If you have 30 or more years of substantial earnings, we donā€™t reduce the standard 90% factor in our formula. See the first table that lists substantial earnings foreach year. The second table shows the percentage used to reduce the 90% factor depending on the number of years of substantial earnings. If you have 21 to 29 years of substantial earnings, we reduce the 90% factor to between 45% and 85%. To see the maximum amount we could reduce your benefit, visitwww.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/wep.html.

"If you receive a relatively low pension, and that pension is fully or partially based on earnings after 1956 where you did not pay Social Security taxes, thereā€™s a law that might help you. In most cases, we wonā€™t reduce your Social Security full retirement age benefit by more than half of your pension amount."
 
Repealing WEP and GPO has dubious justification.

There are many State and Local government employees who earned a pension but also contributed to Social Security just like most private employees. WEP and GPO doesn't "hit" them because they paid into both systems. They never had the benefit of a "double-dip" from a single contribution path.

I'm not sure where things will ultimately fall. Those impacted have been lobbying for repeal or revision since Gen X went to D.C. in the 1990s and reached back to employees at the State and Local levels for additional support.

Low-wage FICA contributors would probably feel the most pain from any revision.
 
EmptyCup said:
A bill to end the WEP is now before congress. Hope it makes it. Will help ALOT of folks who really need it.
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How is that fair to all the people who paid into SS over their working lifetime?

this is another scheme to take from those who put in the money and give it to those who did not, and somehow that is supposed to be fair. I donā€™t get it.
 

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